Soroptimist International Bath and District

Members from our club with the help of a member from the Bathhampton WI club have made these beautiful knitted bunnies for the Women and Girls charity supporting period poverty in India. These little gems will be sold to raise money to provide sanitary wear. One bunny will provide sanitary wear for one girl for at least a year. Member Diane presenting Kathryn, Founder of Women and Girls charity with the fluffle!

The first lot of gift donations have been given to the Salvation Army in Bath ready to be dispersed to the relevant recipients at Christmas time. There will be more on its way in the coming weeks.

More blogs from #soroptimistvirtual2020 now on the website http://sigbi.org/belfast2020 Thank you to our amazing #Soroptimist blogging team:

Dr Alison Gardner – blog by Soma Dasgupta

Programme Action Best Practice Awards – blog by Rita Leaman

Jane Garvey – blog by Jane Slatter

Club member Diane heard that one of her yoginis Clare Bolden was self isolating and had decided to make face masks in aid of her chosen charity LupusUK. Diane decided to support her by giving free yoga classes online in return for donations towards Clare’s charity. Over £265 was raised.

Julian House needed much help at their store house to sort out all the incoming donations of clothes and goods. There’s been an influx of donations accumulated during the Covid-19 pandemic so more help was needed and Rosemary, Fiona and Mary were able to lend a hand.

Club member Diane decided to hold a virtual birthday party with club members to raise money for the SharedLivesPlus charity. A charity that provides care in the home very often with a buddy system. It was their awareness and fundraising week so we thought we would help out. We raised £85.

Seeing it was Ascot week we thought we would have a bit of fun and wear a hat. A pity the cake couldn’t be shared!

Our members volunteer in many ways from making PPE equipment for local dentists, vets, teachers and shops, ringing up vulerable elderly people every week, running a community shop and post office, volunteering at Devon Wildlife Trust, creating activity packs for families at this critical time.

We try and tick all the boxes when it comes to the UN’s Sustainable Goals.

Rosemary rose to the challenge of walking 49km during March for WaterAid. It should have been 62km but unfortunately the Coronavirus took hold and prevented her from finishing. However, she managed to raise £50. Here are the trainers that helped her along the way supporting the Girlguiding organisation as well.

Two of our members have been busy making much needed scrubs, scrub bags and hats for the local RUH hospital. Being self isolated has its advantages by enabling lots of time dedicated to making these items.